A system and method for providing voice-controlled communications between individuals is provided.
Various different wireless communication devices are well known and form a large part of our everyday lives. Examples of the well known wireless communication devices include cellular phones from various manufacturers, wireless e-mail systems, such as the Research in Motion (RIM) wireless e-mail devices that include personal information management features and capabilities, pagers and other wireless access devices, such as Palm-type handheld devices that permit e-mail or Internet access.
These well known wireless communication devices provide an expanding range of capabilities. For example, when originally introduced, cellular phones provided only wireless telephone access and the clarity of the cellular phone calls was not clear. Recently, the next generation of cellular phones were introduced (2 G handsets) that provided limited Internet access so that, for example, a user may browse the World Wide Web as one might do with a typical desktop computer. The level of access, however, was very limited and unsatisfactory. These cellular phones typically provided some browsing capability, but nothing else due to various limitations including small display screen size and limited bandwidth connections. Recently, the next generation of cellular phones (2.5 G and 3 G handsets) are being introduced which provide greater bandwidth connections that will enable the cell phones to provide closer to the same level of functionality as is provided by a desktop computer.
Thus, these devices permit the integration of telephony functions with the functions of a web browser. The cellular phones still do not have reliable communications since the footprint of the cells for the cellular phones is still being expanded to provide better coverage. None of these typical systems provide a voice-controlled communications system. Some known cellular phones provide some limited voice-recognition capability, such as to dial a phone number based on a name of a person, but do not provide a wide breadth of voice-activated functions. Thus, it is desirable to provide a voice-activated communications system and desirable to provide a voice-controlled wireless communications system that overcomes the limitations and drawbacks of typical cell phone systems and it is to this end that the present invention is directed.